Majority Support Electoral Reform on PEI

MQO Research recently spoke with 401 residents of Prince Edward Island about their views on Electoral Reform, asking: If a referendum (on Electoral Reform) were held today, would you vote in favour of a new Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system?

Further, a strong majority of supporters of all provincial opposition parties favour this change, while supporters of PEI Liberals oppose it by a small margin:

Liberal Supporters:

40% Yes

45% No

14% Undecided

Progressive Conservatives

54% Yes

33% No

13% Undecided

Green Party Supporters:

74% Yes

16% No

10% Undecided

NDP Supporters:

64% Yes

24% No

12% Undecided

Also of note, a majority of Islanders who are undecided in regards to party preference also were in favour:

Undecided (Party Preference)

50% Yes

26% No

25% Undecided (re: Electoral Reform)

Support for a switch to a MMP system is strongest in Queens and Prince Counties and weakest in Kings:

Prince:

48% Yes

29% No

23% Undecided

Queens:

55% Yes

27% No

18% Undecided

Kings:

35% Yes

51% No

14% Undecided

Other factors revealed in the survey include a positive correlation between support for MMP and educational attainment – but not by income.

Among the undecided, Women (25%) are twice as likely to be undecided than Men (13%) and younger Islanders are more likely to be undecided than older Islanders.

Undecided by age demographic:

18-34: 25%

35-54: 20%

55+: 15%

MQO Research also surveyed on Electoral Reform (in general) in January 2017, a comparison indicates that support for Electoral Reform has remained constant:

January 2017:

52% Yes

28% No

21% Undecided

The Atlantic Matters poll was conducted by telephone from April 16th to May 8th, 2018 and included 401 randomly selected eligible voters from across the province. The margin of error for the total sample is ± 4.9 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

About MQO Research

MQO Research is one of Atlantic Canada’s leading market research firms, providing research insights to clients throughout the region and beyond. Our team includes experts in quantitative and qualitative methodologies and program evaluation. MQO is a Gold Seal member of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) and as such subscribes to the highest standards of information gathering and research ethics in the industry in Canada.